The corporal joined up with the 5^th Air Force’s 26^th Photo Recon Squadron, after being rescued as a sole survivor from a fox hole in the New Guinea jungle. Yorkie was credited with flying 12 combat air and sea rescue missions, received 8 battle stars and survived kamikaze attacks as well.

Smoky, the nickname given by friends, became a true war hero and legend while serving at  Luzon, in the Philippines, 1945. Smoky was assigned the task of pulling critical communication wires through a 70 ft long, 8 inch diameter pipe. Seemed like a difficult task, even for someone small in stature, as was the corporal. If Smoky couldn’t do it, then it would have taken the troops at least 3 days to dig up, lay wires, and replace the strip. Thus putting at least 40 US fighter and recon planes in peril of destruction by enemy bombings. The feat took only a few minutes to complete and was expected to take other troops from two to three days to complete. Amazing, you say. You’re right, it was amazing. And, consider this…the corporal was a little girl! So little, in fact, that she only weighed 4 pounds.

I know all of you WWII veterans already know the legend of Smoky, the Yorkshire Terrier, but for the readers who haven’t heard of her you will be interested to know that she was the first therapy dog, traveling to hospitals to do tricks for the wounded guys and cheering them up. She was good at her job. Her trainer, Bill Wynn, taught Smoky to walk a tight-rope wire blindfolded and to walk on a drum, peddle a scooter made from an orange crate, control cable pulleys, and walk on a tight rope blindfolded. She even learned how to spell her own name from letters cut from cardboard boxes. Smoky spent hours dangling in a pack, and even jumped from a 30-foot tower in a specially made parachute.

Smoky spent two years backpacking through the war and accompanied Wynne on combat flights in the Pacific.  Facing adverse circumstances, living in the New Guinea jungle, they endured primitive conditions. Throughout her service, Smoky slept in Wynne’s tent or in his helmet when they were on traveling. They shared Wynne’s rations.  Unlike the “official” war dogs of World War II, Smoky had neither medical care nor a balanced diet formulated especially for dogs.  In spite of this, Smoky was never ill.

On those flights with the 26^th Photo Recon unit, Smoky spent long hours dangling in a soldier’s pack near machine guns used to ward off enemy fighters.  Smoky survived 150 air raids on New Guinea and made it through a typhoon at Okinawa.  Smoky even jumped from a 30 foot tower with a specially made parachute.  Wynne credited Smoky with saving his life by warning him of incoming shells on a transport ship.  As the ship deck was booming and vibrating from anti aircraft gunnery, Smoky guided Wynne to duck the fire that hit 8 men standing next to them.

After two years of endless journey from Australia to Korea and many hostile places in between, when the war ended Wynn smuggled Smoky home to Cleveland in a customized flight oxygen mask carrying case.

She died in February 1957 at the age of 14. There’s a monument to her at Eastlake Doggie Park, inscribed: “World War II’s littlest soldier and most famous war dog.” Another monument was unveiled on Veterans Day, 2005 in Cleveland Metroparks, Rocky River Reservation in Ohio, dedicated to: “Smoky, the Yorkie Doodle Dandy, and Dog of All Wars.”

Thank you for your service, Cpl Yorkie.